Taro
Human male, born LY 254, in Tonad. Died 319, in Sorret. Spirit-talker, apothecary, and Grand Sorreter (308-319). Taro (pronounced tär·ō) was 16 years old when a group of travelers from First Village arrived in Tonad, in 270. This group included several spirit-talkers, led by Sol, as well as non-spirit-talkers, the most prominent two of whom were Murray and Jess. The group were planning on settling a new village, and were looking for more people from Tonad to join them in this endeavor. The village they ended up settling, the third on The Land, would be called Sorret. But their reasons for founding Sorret went beyond just expanding mankind's frontiers; they wanted a place to study magic, under the tutelage of spirits. While a fair number of secular Tonadians joined the party, Taro was the only spirit-talker from his village to do so. At that time it was still quite rare for anyone to make a living solely as a spirit-talker, of course, so Taro had spent several years training to become an apothecary. He had recently finished learning all his master could teach him in that field, and was now looking for a master physician to further his training in the medical field. It was in fact a physician from First Village who convinced him to join the expedition. And so, Taro joined them when they set out from Tonad to find a suitable location for their new village. Once they reached the west coast of First Land in early 271, construction began. While his main goal in life remained medicine, Taro was also increasingly excited by the possibilities of magic. Those who studied magic were called Sorreters, and in the first generation this included both spirit-talkers and non-spirit-talkers, though all apprentice Sorreters were of necessity required to talk with spirits, of course. Taro felt that it was important for all those who had already been spirit-talkers to also become Sorreters, and felt this to be perhaps more important for himself than any of the First Villagers, since he was the only spirit-talker from his own village to be involved in founding Sorret. However, because his studies were split between medicine and sorretry, he didn't have as much time to devote to magic that most other apprentices did. It therefore took him longer to become an adept, but this didn't bother him. However, by the time Murray became the second Grand Sorreter in 282 (following Sol), Taro was certainly as good as any other adept Sorreter, if not quite a master-adept. But by the time of Murray's death in 302, Taro had been a master-adept for some time, as well as a master physician and apothecary. He felt he was ready to become the next Grand Sorreter, and so challenged Murray's earlier selection of Jess as his successor in that position. The previous year, Jess had demonstrated a new spell of her own, to qualify her for the position. It wasn't until shortly after Murray's death that Taro perfected his own spell, healing acceleration. While it was deemed by the Council of Magicks to be worthy of earning him the position of Grand Sorreter, ultimately the vote went in favor of Jess. However, following her death in 307, Taro became the fourth Grand Sorreter, in 308. His healing acceleration spell was just one of several medical spells he developed which are still commonly used by Sorreters to this day. See also *List of Grand Sorreters Category:People